February 17, 2005

What lies at the heart of mission? Who benefits? Are we changed? Are the communities that we serve changed in some way? How about just resting on the reality that God is glorified, the Kingdom is expanded, and the world looks a little bit different? A week in Costa Rica taught me a lot about myself, and I learned a lot about the folks I traveled with, as well as the incredible people of Costa Rica. I think I am motivated to strive toward balance. A balanced mission life, that is. How about a balance of mission to our family and friends, our spiritual formation communities, our neighborhoods, our cities, our country, and our global neighbors? What do we take for granted? What opportunities do we miss? I went to Costa Rica wondering what the difference was between building a house in Mexico, painting a porch in Tennessee, moving some furniture with a friend in Wichita, and empowering a pastor, his family, and faith community in Costa Rica. Turns out there is no difference, and one is not greater than any of the others. Two awesome realities are that mission points to God, and that mission provides an arena for the growth and development of relationships. We get to explore kingdom life with one another and we get to explore our relationship with God. A year ago I asked my 96 year old Grandpa about the most important thing that he learned in his lifetime. His response, "How to get along with other people." The mission field serves as a vast playground for learning how to get along with others. It leads to a constantly filling cup of relationships that is held by the very hands of the Lord our God. Through those relationships and through the active work of our hands and feet God is glorified and human transformation is continued, or in some cases set into motion.

February 03, 2005

For me, the most intense part of the trip came during our times of worship and prayer with the Costa Ricans (Ticos). We worshiped on Sunday and Wednesday nights and had a special prayer gathering on thursday night that focused on a Wednesday night break-in that resulted in the loss of the church sound system, about $2000.00 worth. All three experiences were extremely intense. All were in Spanish and all made complete sense to me, even with my well developed Spanish vocabulary of about 27 words. The passion filled singning, preaching, and praying was met with a passionate response that filled the room with the Spirit of God. Simultaneous praying has always stirred me, and we experienced our share of it this week. As Pastor Wilberth or the the worship leader, Lupita, began to pray aloud the congregation would break into prayer as well. Somehow the the petitions seemed clear and each voice lifted up a distinct prayer to God. This experience prompted me to ponder my own prayer experiences. I continue to question the motivation behind the prayers that I pray in a group setting. By being the lone voice on occasion it feels as if I am lifting prayers to the ears gathered around rather than to our divine creator. That seems to be a sad display of communication on my part and draws away from the purpose of holy conversation. Seems like I have some growing to do in this area. The experience left me wondering about the basis of our differences. I wonder when it was that we, as Midwest Christians, started to be concerned with human ears hearing our prayers rather than divine ears??? Does our lone ranger practice of prayer draw attention away from God, or in some way does it draw close to God. I am still a bit freaked from an intense moment of prayer that I had with the pastor. For what seemed like an eternity he laid his hands on me and petitioned to God on my behalf. I could not understand a word, but I knew exactly what he said. I know that doesn't make much sense, but somehow the message was loud and clear.

Each night that we did not gather for worship, someone from the group led us in a devotion. The topics varied widely, but all of our devotions allowed some time for us as a group to slow down, open up and listen to God. The majority of the devotions lasted 15-20 minutes. For some reason this was one of my favorite parts of the trip. I really enjoyed the opportunity to tune out the noises of the day and tune into the sound of God bringing us a message of hope and peace. This part of the trip made me realize how I abuse my time with God and rarely take time to listen. I do suppose that it is time to kick it up a notch!!!

January 30, 2005

We left America with 20 faces of Christ and we are returning with the same, so that’s good. We embarked on this adventure with 15 veterans and 5 newbies. One of the most profound aspects of the trip came through the opportunity to watch our group dynamic unfold. We all come from very different places in life and we represent 20 distinct, developing faith journeys. For nine days we traveled together, ate together, worked together, rested together, worshiped together, prayed together, laughed together, cried together, got frustrated together, reconciled our differences together, and above all we experienced Kingdom life together. It was a blessing to see a full spectrum of personalities open up and develop as the days passed. Leaders emerged, followers emerged, roles emerged, and each of these aspects commingled within the group and throughout the week. The past week has been incredible, and I will not soon lose sight of those I have had the pleasure of working alongside during our Costa Rican mission experience.

January 27, 2005

Today we had to fish for our supper, so a half dozen of us went to the tilapia pond. We only caught 4 at the first place, but then we went to another place and caught about 30 in 15 minutes. On the way back, we stopped at a field and pulled some roots called yuca (not to be confused with yucca). They fix them like potatoes. Pretty good stuff. The most interesting aspect of the trip seems to be group dynamics, the relationships within our group, and the relationships we are building the the Costa Ricans. There are some frustrating times, but we seem to be getting a bit of work done. Wednesday night they invited us to have communion with them. When they were talking to them about this earlier in the week, we thought they were inviting all of the church members to supper with us on Wednesday night - turns out it was the Lord´s supper (amazing what one word can do to change the context of supper). We worshipped for about 1 1/2 hours. It´s amazing to me how powerful a worship can be, even when we don´t understand the language. For the most part, we could sing along and I could understand the preaching. The prayers were very spirit-filled and the people accept us openly.

An interesting day today… we had a little finger dislocation, good thing the clinic is next door. Don Walker fell and dislocated his finger. Spent some time in the hospital in Cuidad Quesada, but came back with just a few stitches and a good attitude. We spent the day working on plumbing stuff, ceiling stuff, and did some cement work. We made another pilgrimage to the ice cream shop (helado for you Spanish speaking readers) - best helado on the planet. More tomorrow.

January 24, 2005

Massive day of work today. Some worked on the kitchen counter, some are circumnavigating the casa with a 3 foot sidewalk, and I had the privilege of doing some plumbing with Alex, Don, Garrett, Julie, Alicia, Donna, and Mry Beth. It was great!! We dug ditches, and ran water and drain lines. We tied the main drain into the septic tank, plumbing is almost ready to roll. Most everyone is still smiling. It is great to work with the Costa Ricans. I am butchering the language, but they just laugh and fix what I say. That´s all for now. Internet cafe time is up.

I had the pleasure of finishing Doug Pagitt’s Book, “Reimagining Spiritual Formation,” on the plane. More on this awesome book later, but for now I am pondering his section on service. I am absolutely consumed with thoughts about what it means to be a global neighbor. This seems to be an important aspect of our missional nature. As I talked to folks prior to coming on this trip I found myself trying to answer a question that many had… “Why are you involved in ministry around the world when there is so much need in our own country?” Doug put it better than I ever have… “Our answer is simple: The community of God is not restricted by national allegiance. We are no less obligated to people who live in a foreign country than we are to people who live inside our borders.” Bravo. The dude is a genius.

Big day in Central America!!! No problems at the airport, customs, or luggage. All of the luggage as well as the packers made it. The airport was interesting, lots of “opportunities” and interesting people.After a night at Hotel 1915 we started our day with an awesome breakfast followed by a stroll through Alajuela. We had planned to go to worship at a Methodist church, but when we showed up we found that they were not meeting, did spend a bit of time at a Catholic Mass though. It was awesome. After a trip around the area, we headed to Sarchi to visit some markets. Lunch was at an awesome restaurant called El Mirador. After Lunch we were off to see Marion Woods at the Methodist Rural center in Ciudad Quesada. After dropping off some packers full of School and Medical Supplies, and visiting with Marion for a bit we were finally off to the church in Pital. It sounds like Marion has been a missionary in Costa Rica for about 50 years. He is an amazing man and is a blessing to many, many people. As far as I can tell it sounds like our church has been coming here for the better part of thirty years, my first trip, with a veteran of 13 years along for the ride. There are twenty of us on the trip this year. After dinner Sunday night, we worshipped with the folks here, and then began to make a plan for the week. It sounds like the majority of our work will be focused on the parsonage for Pastor Wilberth and his family. We may spend a bit of time working on the church. It sounds like Marion wants to take some of us up to Los Chiles (on the Nicaraguan border) to see the location of the next church plant. This sounds pretty exciting to me.

January 22, 2005

We are off. Five minutes away from getting on the plane in Dallas. 20 folks total. Mostly veterans, just a few newbies like myself. Our fist night wll be near San Jose, then Pital tomorrow (Sunday). Ecerybody has had their fill of Auntie Anne's pretzels, and everyone is still smiling, so thats good. Some serious people watching opportunities here in the airport. I am sporting my new, bright red crocs. As I pace the concourse it is amusing to watch folks spot my shoes then look up to see what kind of goof wears bright red rubber shoes... Chicks dig crocs, especially my wife!! :-)